Season Summary - 2024/25

Really bad but that kinda summarises how good we are

Think we're very very very lucky to get 3rd, Forest kinda bottled it and think Villa had such a poor start coupled with being inexperienced in Europe played a huge part of how we managed 3rd but they say luck balances itself in football so if we came 3rd we deserve it

But it really has been bad, and yea we've had reasons for that but the football...OH my God it's just so boring and we've been so bad defensively...and the FA cup final result just was a bad performance from us and Pep got it wrong

But look we did damage limitation and ended up in a good position

Worried we won't challenge next year, if Arsenal gave Liverpool any type of challenge they'd have finished 20+ points ahead of us and are securing some quality players (if they finalise them)

Need to get the recruitment right in the summer, could do without this poxy CWC but moneys and all that

We need a squad refresh, these players aren't shot or bad, they just need a new challenge and we need fresh impetus to compete

The season was a 5/10....maybe 6 if you think about HOW bad we were am when we couldn't win against anyone

But we move on, bad seasons happen just we aren't used to it recently which shows how lucky we are
 
I’ll give you all another disappointing statistic

Having to go to to Wembley 3 fucking times again lol
 
Bizzare.
Poor for a long period of the premier league season yet finished 3 points behind Arsenal.
Defensively poor yet only conceded 3 more than Liverpool.
Second highest number of wins, more than Arsenal.
Stank the Chmpions League out.
Cup final loss was the biggest dissapointment, to lose back to back cup finals against avarege teams is so poor.
HIghlights was the home wins against our near rivals Chelsea, Newcastle, Forest and Villa that ultimately got us a top 3 finish.
 
handsofstone said:
Really bad but that kinda summarises how good we are

Think we're very very very lucky to get 3rd, Forest kinda bottled it and think Villa had such a poor start coupled with being inexperienced in Europe played a huge part of how we managed 3rd but they say luck balances itself in football so if we came 3rd we deserve it

But it really has been bad, and yea we've had reasons for that but the football...OH my God it's just so boring and we've been so bad defensively...and the FA cup final result just was a bad performance from us and Pep got it wrong

But look we did damage limitation and ended up in a good position

Worried we won't challenge next year, if Arsenal gave Liverpool any type of challenge they'd have finished 20+ points ahead of us and are securing some quality players (if they finalise them)

Need to get the recruitment right in the summer, could do without this poxy CWC but moneys and all that

We need a squad refresh, these players aren't shot or bad, they just need a new challenge and we need fresh impetus to compete

The season was a 5/10....maybe 6 if you think about HOW bad we were am when we couldn't win against anyone

But we move on, bad seasons happen just we aren't used to it recently which shows how lucky we are
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It's a good point that the PL was very weak this season. Liverpool won the league with 84 points when City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Utd, Spurs, Newcastle were all weak. That Forest and Villa were competing for CL qualification says it all.

But that will also help City to recover next season.
 
Don Karleone said:
Started okay then went to shit at the end of October. Lots of factors as to why that happened, but we finished strong (ish).
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I thought we started terribly and just about got over the line in those early games
I expected improvement, however we got worse and the results didn't lie
The CL campaign was pretty much a disaster
Our results at the back end of the season have been positive but performances have still been nowhere near the standards we set in previous seasons

Conclusion
A number of players need to leave and at least three have to be brought in (we are desperate for specialist full backs)
Hopefully Bobb and Rodri will be up and ready for the new season, which will be like two new top quality signings
 
Hindsight is a marvellous thing, of course, but I wonder if Guardiola had his time again, whether he'd have played an even weaker side at Spurs in the League Cup. It was actually our first defeat of the season, October 30th, but the injuries mounted, we looked increasingly fragile, and we fell to pieces thereafter.
 
A season blighted by injuries to key personnel, yet we still finished 3rd and reached a cup final and we have found out alot about fringe players who can or can't cope without quality players around them.
 
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Season of 2 halves really. This is the table from our last 20 games of the season, great end to the season.

Very confident of next season especially with Rodri back
 
Chappie said:
A season blighted by injuries to key personnel, yet we still finished 3rd and reached a cup final and we have found out alot about fringe players who can't cope without quality players around them.
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O'Reilly coped. Nunes grew stronger. Marmoush looks like he's going to be a star player once integrated into the side. No one currently finds his runs (likewise Haaland) but that's because our midfield is currently broken.
 
Obviously by our recent standards it's been a poor season and though there's some mitigation for that, there's also clearly some things that need to be fixed. There's also reasons to be optimistic they can be fixed.

I think for a more realistic definition of 'wank' and 'utter shite' etc you need to look westwards towards Salford. They've not quite reached 'cataclysmic' but they're sliding towards it.

Though they are pretty irrelevant at the moment, they do provide two useful purposes. A meaningful benchmark of what a real disaster actually looks like and a salutary lesson on what happens when you become complacent and arrogant.
 
Like many on here I felt we were short going into the season. Then losing Bobb, Rodri, Akanji, Ake etc... just cemented that view.

However, the season's finished on a high, by securing third and ultimately a CL spot.
The injury to Rodri floored us. We were like a boxer who was basically losing round, after round, after hitting the canvass, whilst we regrouped. But we did just about stay on our feet!

The Jan signings helped stabilise us to an extent and they got through another difficult period.

Then we did start to find a formula to win. Kova, Bernardo and Gundogan settled in to a midfield three, Dias and Gvardiol were partnered at CB and we destroyed Newcastle (I know it was Nico in midfield that day) and we picked up results on the way.

A 'poor season' has finished with us top of the form league in the last 6 games, with ironically a draw at Southampton as our only blemish!

Far from perfect but we have shown signs we still had that hunger. Bernardo should take a bow cos he dragged his knackered body around and found his levels again from Feb.

We need fresh, hungry players. We need quality NOT quantity. We need legs not just technically gifted players.

To finish; I was angry after the Cup Final defeat last season cos we'd finished on a low.
This time we lost the FAC final but won two massive games the following week and CL has been secured. Something we should never take for granted.
 
Missing the football already. The sooner we take our title back of the ferals the better Obviously disappointed, but one season of not sweeping all before us,will just galvanise us ,plus being completely exonerated ,will set us up nicely for next season.
 
I think multiple things can be true.

Pep, the players, the staff, the owners have set higher standards for us than third and a cup defeat and that you don't have the last five years we have had settling for that. I hope it lights a fire under all of them.

As a fan, if this is bad season now then aren't we lucky.
 
Third and a Cup Final wasn't a total disaster, but Liverpool and Arsenal both took their foot off the gas and we've finished slightly closer than our season merited.

Rodri's injury affected us far more than it should have done, but we also had a few hangovers from last season (especially Walker's declining pace) that weren't resolved over the summer

Foden's form was a major concern and whatever's going on behind the scenes needs to be sorted.

A few other problems need to be boxed-off.

Stones and Ake are a waste of a squad place when forever injured and even despite making some crucial saves yesterday, Ederson wasn't punished for the exact "no man's land" rush of blood mistakes that saw United and Real Madrid (twice) plus others, all benefit

Similarly whilst Nunes finished the season reasonably well, we still need a couple of recognised Full Backs who can block those dangerous crosses from Robinson/Kertzer//Robertson etc.

We got away with it yesterday but we won't at the elite level

This season also provided a valuable lesson to a significant proportion of our fanbase who probably needed 2-3 months of everything- going-wrong to appreciate that football is cyclical and you need to be looking ahead rather than assuming that everything will turn out okay just because it did last time.
 
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It's been a long season for certain and one which has highlighted a lot of big questions which needs answering over summer. However the CWC is almost likely to mean we won't have much time.

Firstly losing Rodri was horrendous. He is the best player in the world, but we have had all season to find an answer and we still don't have one. Without Rodri we won't win much, simple as that. Pep has a team system which is hugely dependent on one player - he needs to sort this out. Rodri might not be the player he was after that injury so we absolutely need someone who can play in his position, simple as that.

Secondl is the Haaland Question. He is the best striker in the world but it's not working for him in our team. For too many games he is anonymous and is starting to make the wrong runs or just hide next to defenders. We look better as a team when he doesn't play and unless he scores it's like playing with 10 players. Pep needs to think about this - how can we get Haaland into games? I'm coming to the conclusion he's the best striker in the world but in the wrong team.

Peps style of football has been found out. Too many teams have been able to sit back and counter on "1 shot, 1goal" - eg Palace in the final and practically every team in the CL. Possession is becoming about control in areas that don't matter. He needs to take more risks and learn from managers like Klopp who had less possession but used it more effectively.

Pace and athleticism is also becoming a key area for other teams but our midfield is painfully slow and too old. We need players who can move quickly. I've been surprised how a total lack of pace in KdB, Gundogan, Silva and even Dias and Nico hasn't been noticed by Pep. It's allowed any player with a modicum of pace to slice through or midfield. It's mad to say this but pretty much any generic quick midfielder in the league would improve ours!

Overrall we might have finished 3rd but it feels like a lucky 3rd. Losing to Palace summed up our season really - loads of boring possession but no idea how to score.

We need some big changes over summer. The board needs to ask Pep some hard questions too - does he have the energy and ideas of a few tears ago? Can he stop "1 shot, 1 goal"? Where has the teams energy gone and can he get it back? How can a team drop off so much in just a few months? Will we continue the same style that's not done much in the PL and bombed out in the CL?

Finally the 115 charges continue to hang over the club. We need answers on this either way as it's hard to see how we can plan with it.

We have to sign some top class players this summer. No more Nunes/Grealish/ones for the future etc. We need at least one world class midfielder, 2 full backs and a goalkeeper who can stop shots. We also need some pace. Without these I don't see us finishing top 4 next year if I'm honest.

Once the new season starts I'm sure I will be predicting a clean sweep again though! :)
 
OldhamBlue94 said:
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Season of 2 halves really. This is the table from our last 20 games of the season, great end to the season.

Very confident of next season especially with Rodri back
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Sssshhhhhhh. We’re shit and totally doomed apparently. We MUST sign Mbappe, Yamal and Pele NOW and right
NOW or else I’m cancelling my Sky and TNT account immediately
 
Brightwell Bros. said:
I think multiple things can be true.

Pep, the players, the staff, the owners have set higher standards for us than third and a cup defeat and that you don't have the last five years we have had settling for that. I hope it lights a fire under all of them.

As a fan, if this is bad season now then aren't we lucky.
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It’s as if our wonderful fans don’t trust the leadership of a club that has won the lot despite the obstacles put in their way by every association possible. Thank god there’s so many experts on here or else we’d really be in the shit
 
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